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Facts About The Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine and Residential Tower Building Project

The Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine takes The Mount Sinai Medical Center to the next level in research and patient care.

– December 13, 2012 /Press Release/ ––

The Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine, located at 1470 Madison Avenue between 101st and 102nd streets, takes The Mount Sinai Medical Center to the next level in research and patient care. Scientists and clinicians will work side-by-side in adjacent space, allowing for real-time collaboration that will change the way we practice medicine. The Hess Center is designed to increase the medical center's research capacity by 30 percent.

With nearly a half-million square-feet of new state-of-the-art medical research and clinical facilities, the Hess Center has six full floors of laboratory space and two floors of outpatient clinical space. The centerpiece of the building is a magnificent open stairway that symbolizes and enhances collaboration, as each floor flows into a common area. In this environment, basic and translational research being pursued on one floor will be translated into treatments and diagnostics that could improve outcomes for patients on another floor.

The lead gift to the Center was made by the Hess family. The building is named in honor of Leon Hess, a Mount Sinai Trustee from 1966 until his death in 1999, and his wife, Norma, for their generosity and commitment to Mount Sinai and to improved patient care more broadly.

The Hess Center is one of the few research facilities to open this year in the United States, and one of the first to be completed or even started in New York City over the last several years.
Researchers located in the building have the potential to draw more than $350 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding over the next five years.

The adjacent 52-story residential tower at 1214 Fifth Avenue and 102nd Street houses two floors of the Mount Sinai Doctors Faculty Practice outpatient services with an entrance at 10 East 102nd Street. Floors 5 and 6 of the tower are home to the Mount Sinai Primary Care Associates and the Mount Sinai Diabetes Center, both of which have been substantially expanded to address the growing demand for Mount Sinai's medical services.

The facilities will generate almost 800 jobs over the next four years.

Changing the Face of Medicine

"The construction of the Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine underscores Mount Sinai's ongoing commitment to bringing critical therapies from bench to bedside. The building will bring medical breakthroughs to patients by facilitating the translation of basic science done on one floor and more precise medicine for patients on another floor."

"Mount Sinai is a magnet for researchers making critical contributions in every part of the scientific spectrum. The building of the Hess Center will invigorate basic, translational, and clinical research and help support the bold thinking and disciplined science that can fundamentally change the face of medicine.”

- Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of The Mount Sinai Medical Center

Economic Impact: Quote from Mayor Michael Bloomberg

"New York City's economy has recovered far faster than the rest of the nation's because we've diversified our economy – industries like health care and education are growing as others contract, resulting in solid middle-class jobs across New York City. Mount Sinai is a phenomenally important employer in our City, and these new jobs in East Harlem are another important milestone in helping New York City further recover from the national recession.”

-New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg

Economic Impact: The Numbers

The Mount Sinai Medical Center is New York City's 10th largest employer with more than 15,000 employees

Mount Sinai has an annual payroll of over $1.5 billion (2011 data)

The research facilities at the Hess Center and Residential Tower are projected to result in an annual payroll of $50 million when fully occupied

The Hess Center is a state-of-the-art research and clinical facility expected to generate nearly 800 jobs; researchers, post-docs, technicians, nurses, social workers, nutritionists, medical assistants, registration and financial personnel, and other administrative staff

Nearly one-quarter of the construction workers who built the Hess Center came from East Harlem

The building will be completely filled with current faculty and new recruits in 18 to 24 months after opening, versus original projections of 4 to 5 years

Breakdown of 800 Jobs provided by the creation of the Hess Center and adjacent Residential Tower

A collaborative and multidisciplinary environment to advance research and care with a focus on brain repair, cognition and therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders

Groundbreaking work will continue in aging-related illnesses like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, addiction, and autism.

The Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology – 8th Floor

Internet-scale generation and integration of multiple sources of biological data combined with clinical information will expand Mount Sinai's ability to characterize disease, and ultimately be more precise in the diagnosis and treatment of patients

The Mindich Child Health and Development Institute – 7th and 8th Floors

Integrating the latest technologies with a modern research layout, the new space will help scientist-physicians advance innovative paradigms to understand the effects of genetics and environment on child health, as well as personalize pediatric medicine

42,000 square feet of laboratory space on the 5th and 6th floors houses 50 investigators with a goal of improving the diagnosis and treatment—and ultimately prevention—of all cancers

Close proximity of scientists to patients on the 3rd and 4th floors could result in a great degree of spontaneity and potential for discovery

Promising areas of cancer research include immunotherapy, targeted therapies and inflammation

Radiology, Imaging, and Radiation Oncology will be moving into the nearby SC2 basement level in 2013, allowing for state-of-the-art research, equipment and technicians as well as a seamless diagnostic and treatment experience for patients

The Derald H. Ruttenberg Treatment Center of the Tisch Cancer Institute is housed on the 3rd and 4th Floors, and expands into the corresponding floors of the adjacent residential tower. Patient exam rooms are located on the 3rd floor while Cancer Infusion is on the 4th floor

Square footage of cancer treatment space doubled in size to 50,000 square with 54 infusion suites—several of which are dedicated to new treatments—and 48 exam rooms

Patients have easy access to treatments including chemotherapy and emerging care options through clinical trials

Centralized space enhances multi-disciplinary care for patients – highly unique in New York City

Specialized pharmacy for cancer patients is housed on the 4th Floor

A patient resource center provides written and digital materials to guide patients through the treatment process and any questions they may have about their disease, with support from Ruttenberg's patient experience manager

New consultation rooms where physician and nursing teams can collaborate with patients to develop customized care plans for each individual

Physician-scientists will apply leading-edge technologies, as well as new modalities such as bioluminescent and fluorescent imaging to diagnosis and treatment of diseases

Areas of discovery include neuroimaging, cardiovascular and cancer research and treating patients with nanomedicine

Mount Sinai will be among the first institutions in the world to combine an MRI and PET in a single machine, which will lead to earlier detection and more targeted treatments

A 7 Tesla MRI will enhance imaging in order to diagnose and treat diseases

A one of a kind Computed Tomography scanner will improve the precision of imaging while minimizing the radiation exposure

Radiation Oncology on the basement level of SC2is an expansion of existing treatment facilities to include 2 additional linear accelerators. Radiation Oncology takes approximately 1/3 of the total floor at 10,000 square feet. The other 2/3rds of the total floor consists of 20,000 square feet of clinical and research imaging space and includes a PET/MR and PET/CT scanner

The new location provides 14,300 square feet of clinical space, located on the 5th and 6th Floors of a new 43-story Residential Tower

The facility provides enough space for the five new physicians: four in the Diabetes Center and one in Primary Care Associates, with plans to increase the number of providers in the next year

The number of primary care providers at Mount Sinai has tripled in the last two years and there are plans to increase that number in the next year

Co-locating the Diabetes Center and Primary Care Associates together in the same location allows doctors from both practices to partner in the goal of helping patients receive the most thorough care possible

Hess Center Building Facts

Location: 1470 Madison Avenue between 101st and 102nd streets

Architect Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (designers of the Willis Tower in Chicago (formerly called the Sears Tower) and One World Trade Center (formerly called the Freedom Tower)

Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and SLCE Architects were the Design Architects and Architects of Record, respectively, for the tower including the building shape, exterior facades, ground entry lobbies, amenities and residential units.

Perkins Eastman is the designer of the clinical space on floors 5 and 6

Management company: Related Companies

52 stories

500 feet tall with 425,000 gross square footage

229 residential units floors 21-52

Twenty percent of the units (46 apartments) are affordable housing

50 percent preference (23 apartments) for residents of Community Board 11 in East Harlem

Tower construction cost approximately $200 million, financed through:

Tax-exempt bonds issued through the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA) and